The woman appointed to try to reverse the world’s lowest birth rates knows better than most why billion-dollar campaigns to encourage South Korea’s female populace to procreate have failed — she is among the millions who have chosen to remain childless in the face of traditionalist social expectations.

A history professor at a Seoul University before joining the government, family minister Chung Hyun-back says she remained single to pursue her professional ambitions.

Entrenched gender roles at home and a workaholic culture are pushing the next generation of South Korean women to follow suit, warned the 64-year-old.

“It was extremely difficult — if not impossible — to juggle an academic career while getting married and raising children,” she explained, pointing out that many female professors in their 50s and 60s are single.